In many instances, in order to more clearly illustrate the trajectory of a moving object, it is desirable to record the path of the object by photographic devices. In the past, multiple-flash stroboscopic photography has been used to show in a single picture the complete motion path of an object. This technique has been found to be a useful and an instructive way of visualizing minor changes associated with, for example, athletic activities such as the swing of a baseball bat or a golf club. The apparatus for producing such photographs include a stroboscopic light source for intermittently illuminating the object in motion and a black scene background.
With the advances in television systems and video cameras, displays have been produced for providing a television display which depicts the motion of an object in a scene during predetermined time intervals. The path of a moving object can then be viewed for subsequent study. The images can also be stored for comparison purposes with later images, such as, for example, comparing athletic activities over a period of time. With the increasing use of video cameras, the recording of a path of a moving object has been made easier, and with viewing techniques of playback units, slow motion and stop action features allow viewers to clearly review the path of moving objects and study their trajectories.
The use of television systems as well as video cameras, for the capturing of the trajectories of moving objects requires excessive storage facilities, and therefore existing systems for capturing and displaying the path of a moving object have been limited in their use. For example, if it is desired to capture the path of a bowling ball as it travels down a lane, and in particular, if it is desired to capture the path of the bowling ball throughout multiple games being played at a bowling facility simultaneously, the amount of storage memory would be prohibitive both in volume and expense.
A need has thus arisen for an image processing system for capturing and displaying the trajectory of moving objects which requires minimal data storage capability for the selective capturing of large amounts of data.